SpaceRyde successfully tested the engine for the rocket portion of their hybrid balloon rocket launch system on November 3.
The company made waves back in June of 2019 as a CDL Space Stream graduate for their unique balloon-based launch concept which was supported by former Canadian astronaut Chirs Hadfield. They proposed that a rocket carrying satellites could be lifted into the stratosphere using a carrier attached to a large balloon. The carrier would release the rocket, the rocket engine would ignite, and the rocket would be able to carry the satellites into orbit.
Not only would it use substantially less fuel than a terrestrial launch, but it would allow for more frequent, smaller-sized launches. That led to SpaceRyde promotional materials describing it as the “first taxi to space,” comparing the larger SpaceX and RocketLab launches as more like a large bus that satellite companies must wait to board.
The test took place at the SpaceRyde testing site ninety minutes outside of Toronto. SpaceRyde Propulsion Specialist Nyssa Rae hosted the live stream of the event. The stream included a brief virtual tour of the site, showing the fuel management system, the storage and pipes for the cryogenic liquid oxidizer, the automated control equipment that lets a small number of people control the test from offsite, the engine test stand and the concrete blocks that surround it, and other safety features of the site.
The stream also showed the development engine being hoisted into a large metal brace, though SpaceRyde promotional material says that the final rocket and its engines will be “ultra lightweight” and suitable for the balloon lift. The engine itself is billed by SpaceRyde as “the largest hybrid engine in Canada,” using both solid paraffin wax as its fuel and a liquid oxidizer.
The stream then shows the operations team setting up the test, checking the oxidizer pressure, chilling the system with liquid nitrogen, verifying that everything is nominal, and giving the go-ahead for the test. The actual firing was short, but looked to work as intended, with a clean ignition, ten-second burn, and shutdown.
(One highlight was where Rae warned viewers that “the engine firing is going to be very loud … so people using headphones may want to turn it down!” She wasn’t wrong. It got very loud, very fast.)
The video follows up on several other successful tests of SpaceRyde’s technology: including a rocket-release test in May, a helicopter-based test last year of the apparatus that guides the balloon while holding — and eventually releasing — the rocket, and an initial balloon test in 2019.
A statement from SpaceRyde COO Saharnaz Safari confirmed the success of the test. Safari said that “this engine was designed, manufactured, and tested in Canada. It has been fired numerous times, and every firing was 100% successful. That’s how SpaceRyde’s team was confident to put on a live demo.” Safari also confirmed that they are on track for their 2022 launch date, saying that “four of these engines will take SpaceRyde’s rocket to space next year (2022)” and that “SpaceRyde is on track to serve customers starting in 2023.”
Safari said that they already “have a backlog of over 10 customers for our launch services worth US$45M.” She added that they are “taking advantage of talent in Canada and building propulsion, structures, avionics, GNC and all other pieces of the space launch puzzle here, in Canada,” and that “the SpaceRyde team is proud to be executing it with support from our investors and the Canadian government.” While CrunchBase has no info on who SpaceRyde’s investors are or how much SpaceRyde had received in their seed round, SpaceQ had previously reported that they did receive a $500,000 Space Technology Development Program award from the Canadian Space Agency for “development of a lightweight rocket nozzle.”